Two Republican senators Monday night dealt a fatal blow to the Senate Republican health care bill. Sens. Jerry Moran and Mike Lee joined two other senators in opposing the legislation, meaning there are not enough votes to move ahead.
The implosion of the Senate Republican health care bill leaves a divided GOP with its flagship legislative priority in tatters. And it confronts a wounded President Donald Trump and congressional leaders with difficult decisions about addressing their seven-year-old promise of repealing President Barack Obama’s law.
Two GOP senators — Utah’s Mike Lee and Jerry Moran of Kansas — sealed the measure’s doom late Monday when each announced they would vote “no” in an initial, critical vote that had been expected as soon as next week. Their startling announcement meant at least four of the 52 GOP senators were ready to block the measure. That’s two more than Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had to spare in the face of a wall of Democratic opposition.
President Donald Trump is blasting Democrats and “a few Republicans” over the failure of the Republican effort to write a new health care law. “We will return,” Trump declared in an early morning tweet.
The president tweeted Tuesday that “Most Republicans were loyal, terrific & worked really hard,” but says, “We were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans.”
He added, “As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!”
Two GOP senators — Utah’s Mike Lee and Jerry Moran of Kansas — sealed the Republican health care bill’s doom late Monday when each announced he would vote “no.”
At least four of the 52 GOP senators were ready to block the measure — two more than Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had to spare.
Jerry Moran Statement:
“There are serious problems with Obamacare, and my goal remains what it has been for a long time: to repeal and replace it. This closed-door process has yielded the BCRA, which fails to repeal the Affordable Care Act or address healthcare’s rising costs. For the same reasons I could not support the previous version of this bill, I cannot support this one.
We should not put our stamp of approval on bad policy. Furthermore, if we leave the federal government in control of everyday healthcare decisions, it is more likely that our healthcare system will devolve into a single-payer system, which would require a massive federal spending increase. We must now start fresh with an open legislative process to develop innovative solutions that provide greater personal choice, protections for pre-existing conditions, increased access and lower overall costs for Kansans.”
